Penn State Professor Says African Grass Could Replace Other Common Grasses for Horses

Although it is still a well-kept secret from many Pennsylvania farmers, an Ethiopian summer annual grass called teff could be a valuable asset to growers, according to a crop specialist in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Marvin Hall, professor of forage management in the department of crop and soil sciences, is optimistic that teff can be grown in Pennsylvania as successfully as other summer-annual grasses. “I must admit I was skeptical at first,” he says. “However, after seeing how well teff performed against other summer-annuals in our trials, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the results.”

Teff could play an important role, Hall points out, because, unlike other summer-annual grasses, it can be made into hay. “Teff can be used for grazing, taken in as hay or chopped into silage,” he says. “This is important because other summer-annuals, such as sorghum, cannot be made into hay. This gives teff a distinct advantage over these other grasses.”

Hall believes that teff can help Pennsylvania farmers avoid some of the pest problems they face with the perennial grass timothy. “We grow a lot of timothy in Pennsylvania, commonly as hay for horses, and it’s had a lot of success in the horse-racing market,” he says. “However, mites recently have been reducing yields by attacking timothy in the spring when it is most productive. I believe that teff, due to its suitability for hay, can serve as a replacement for timothy and can help the timothy producers who are struggling with crop destruction.”

Hall says teff grows very rapidly but produces yields slightly smaller than other summer-annuals, such as sudan and sorghum-sudan. However, recent trials have shown that teff yields are good in Pennsylvania. “We grew teff alongside many other summer- annual grasses, including sorghum and a sorghum-sudan hybrid,” Hall says. “In trials done at other universities, teff has reached a yield about one-half or two-thirds as large as other summer annuals. However, in our trial, teff reached a yield of 80 percent of these crops. That is a major difference from some of the past trials and gives us a reason to feel optimistic.”

Hall mentions that few special practices are necessary in growing teff. He says it cannot be planted until late May or early June, because teff is a warm-season, summer- annual grass, and nitrogen inputs are necessary to maximize teff yields.

Hall hopes that teff can be a unique asset to Keystone State producers. “Teff has been around for a while, but it has not been used much for commercial purposes in the United States,” he says. “However, I believe that teff can have a future in Pennsylvania.”